Case insensitive and if statements

Question

My Code:

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import java.util.Scanner;

public class Codes {

public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner read = new Scanner(System.in);

System.out.println("Please enter your name: ");
String name = read.nextLine();

System.out.println("Please specify your gender(M/F): ");
String gender = read.nextLine();

if(gender == "m") {
System.out.println("Welcome Mr." + name);
} else if(gender == "f") {
System.out.println("Welcome Ms." + name);
} else {
System.out.println("Invalid input. Please re-open the program to re-enter your information");
}

}

}
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My question is how do I make it case insensitive and even though I enter the gender with lower-case, it only shows the "else" statement, why it doesn't work?

Answer 1

Always you equals() method for string comparisons..
== compare references.
equals() compares content.

if( gender.equals("m") ) {

And you have equalsIngoreCase() for case insensitive comparisions...

Ex:
if( gender.equalsIngoreCase("M") )